By Fiona Ware and Stephen Boynes
It is with great sadness that we must announce the untimely death of Steve Milner, Fellow of the SoR, who died on 1 August.
Steve completed his radiography training at Leeds General Infirmary under the tuition and guidance of the late, great Brian Bentley. After qualifying in 1978, he was retained as a basic grade radiographer, which Steve credited with having given him a solid grounding in clinical practice, which set him up for the future.
Steve quickly enrolled on the Yorkshire HDCR course. This not only expanded his professional knowledge but also piqued his interest in the business of radiography education, catching the eye of Eric Naylor, the principal of the Bradford Royal Infirmary School of Radiography, in the process.
Steve was duly offered, and accepted, the post of student teacher at the Bradford School of Radiography in October 1981. He completed his HDCR in 1982 and his TDCR in 1983.
His teaching career was thus established. He eventually became the principal of the Bradford School of Radiography in 1992, which coincided with the first intake of students onto the new radiography degree course and the integration of the School of Radiography into the newly established Bradford and Airedale College of Health, with Steve becoming the head of radiography.
Steve led his team at Bradford seamlessly through the transition from the DCR to the BSc (Honours) degree, followed soon afterwards by the accreditation and approval of the MSc in medical imaging, forming the basis for the future development of a number of postgraduate qualifications.
In 1996 the College of Health moved into the University of Bradford and Steve was invited to become head of the division of radiography within the new School of Health Studies. This presented a whole new set of challenges to be overcome in order to establish the reputation of radiography education within a university setting.
Steve's abilities as a teacher, leader and administrator were recognised within the school and were evidenced by him successfully leading the school team to a very rarely achieved maximum score for teaching, learning and assessment, in the ‘Subject Review’, by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.
Steve’s role in this exercise was to shape the rest of his career, broadening the scope of his professional involvement. He became the associate dean for learning and teaching across the disciplines of radiography, physiotherapy, nursing, midwifery, dementia studies and management studies at Bradford University.
During his career, Steve acted as senior physics examiner with the College of Radiographers, setting and marking DCR physics exam papers, he was a DCR Viva Voce examiner, and also held external examiner roles at nine other Universities across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
In 2011, at the age of 55, Steve’s time at the University of Bradford came to end. However, following a move to Lancashire he was quickly approached and subsequently employed by the University of Liverpool as a senior lecturer where he successfully led the redevelopment of their BSc(Hons) courses in diagnostic radiography and therapeutic radiography.
After that, he continued teaching physics on a part time basis until 2016, when at the age of 60, proper retirement called.
Steve remained active in retirement, becoming a volunteer grounds warden at Martin Mere Wetlands Centre which, amongst many other physical, wet, muddy jobs, involved “mucking out fifty huge flamingoes”. When this role ended, he began volunteering at his local village cricket club to help with grounds maintenance.
In 2019, in recognition of his distinguished career, Steve was invited to the Royal Society of Engineers in London to accept the award of Fellowship of the College of Radiographers.
His citation reads: “In recognition of an outstanding contribution to the Science and Practice of Radiography and services to the College of Radiographers.”
On receiving this accolade, Steve said: “I was a bit chuffed.”
Steve was a proud Yorkshireman, hailing from Hull, and, an enthusiastic supporter of cricket and Hull FC. Whilst much of his career was spent in a managerial and administrative role his first passion and love was teaching physics. His ability in this area will be well remembered by all those that had the luck to be taught by him.
(Image: Steve Milner receiving a Fellowship for the College of Radiographers from 2018/19 SoR president Sue Webb)